Sony 'Vita has more RAM than PS3'

Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida reiterates that the Vita has 512MB of RAM and 128MB of V-RAM, which enables it to offer cross-game chat on the handheld.

The PlayStation Vita has been turning heads, and for good reason--the tech is immensely impressive. Sony's upcoming handheld is a powerhouse, but some have been confused about its specs. For example, how much RAM does it have? Unfortunately, that's been a question of some debate ever since rumors about a possible cut in RAM first surfaced.

"We've been making games, right, and we've been showing the games, like Uncharted, since January. If RAM gets cut in the middle of development, there's no way we can complete the games. So I was like, what's going on?," Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida said.

"We always had 512MB of main RAM and 128MB of V-RAM," Yoshida clarified to Eurogamer. "Actually when you add them together, PS Vita has more RAM than PS3 [the PS3 has 256MB of XDR DRAM main memory and 256MB of GDDR3 video memory]."

Yoshida admits that "the amount of data you have to push is much smaller" on the Vita, thanks to its lowered screen resolution. So why does Vita need more memory than its console brethren? "The reason why we were able to include something like Party, which enables cross-game voice chat, is because we designed Vita so it always has enough resources to handle something like that behind the game while it's running."

While PlayStation fans have long demanded cross-game chat, it appears that only with Vita's extra memory is Sony finally able to deliver on that promise. (Sorry PS3 fans!)